


Maybe Then, I Can Finally Know Peace

by frozenCinders



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, just a quiet introspective moment pre-season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenCinders/pseuds/frozenCinders
Summary: Marik hates the darkness. By extension, he hates sleeping.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Maybe Then, I Can Finally Know Peace

**Author's Note:**

> in the manga, marik says this: "no one on earth fears the dark more than i do. every night i go to sleep is pure terror."

Marik hates the darkness. By extension, he hates sleeping.

It'd be nice if he could just fall asleep on command. No, he has to lie awake in darkness, fear crawling under his skin and making him fidget. He ducks under the covers like a frightened little child, thinking that maybe tricking himself into thinking he's the one making it dark, that the world is definitely bright if only he'd peek his head out, would help somehow.

It doesn't fucking work-- he doesn't know why he thought it would. He feels trapped, and like he's suffocating. He always worried about his air supply when he lived underground, no matter how many times he was assured it wasn't an issue. Logic can't defeat his stupid fucking fears, apparently.

If he can't have light, he can at least have open air. So, Marik throws the blanket aside and swings his legs over the edge of the bed, barely sparing a moment to hastily slip his shoes on before walking outside.

He still can't believe how open it is, how high the sky goes, how noisy the outside world is. The town he's staying in has an open square with a fountain that lights up at night. He wanders toward it, feeling a faint smile sneaking onto his face as it comes into view.

He leans against the fountain, half-sitting on the edge, and just soaks in the outside world and all it passively offers him. The moonlight up above, the light of the fountain right next to him, the buildings, the cars passing in the distance. The crickets chirping into the night, the wind blowing through the trees, the faint voices of conversation from afar, the running water that's so close it almost drowns all the rest out.

It would be foolish to do so, surely, but Marik almost falls asleep right then and there. It'd certainly be easier than returning to the dark, quiet room he'd been stuck in for... no more than ten minutes before he immediately got stir crazy.

Facing the fountain, even when Marik closes his eyes, light seeps through to envelope him. It soothes him-- feels like a gentle thumb brushing across his face.

The first time Marik ever saw a sunrise, he cried. It was like hope given color, slowly staining the sky as if to pronounce the beauty and life it brings. There is absolutely nothing like watching as the world quietly lights up. He'd sooner die than give that up.

Since he certainly doesn't want to go back to his room, maybe he'll just wait out the night right here until he can see the sunrise again. Unlike that gods forsaken pharaoh, Marik doesn't take a single aspect of the outside world for granted, and he is more than determined to rid the world of him so that he doesn't have to lose it.


End file.
